Can I use the source code of other websites to edit and use on my own?

Hello, I was planning on making a website similar to eBay and I was wondering if it was legal or illegal to copy the source code eBay uses, edit it, and use it on my own website? If it is illegal, a link to perhaps an auction website template would be really helpful or something else that would help me make an auction website. Thanks. Bob

Public Comments

  1. You proably won't even have a chace to compete with any other auction sites. And yes I'm pretty sure this is quite illegal considering their logos and design are probably copyrighted.
  2. Check the copyright. Most of the time, the HTML is not copyrighted, but the real magic of ebay you won't see in the html.
  3. Copying a source-code from a site like Ebay will not work. While you may be able to create a look-alike page, it most definitely will NOT function. There is a lot more to Ebay (or any other auction site for that matter) than HTML. The HTML and Javascripts that you see when you go to ebay.com are barely the tip of the iceberg. The real action happens in the programs on the server-side, and your not able to copy those... very secure.
  4. mapaghimagsik is right. The good stuff is in the php. Butt, almost every websites' html isn't copyrighted, so go ahead and have a go at it. Besides, you can learn a lot from viewing other websites' source codes.
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